.......... BUT this dynamic is only possible with respect to some object
>we define (by default assumption) as a static reference. The simplest
>clock must have at least a static and a dynamic component. Since you can't
>establish dynamic without comparision to a defined static, I think of this
>as a qualitative measure.
I agree with Jack's example, except for the conclusion that we can call
this a "qualitative" and "objective" measure. The point is made clearly now
that time is defined in terms of space (distance) and vice-versa. That
makes the definition relative, not objective in the traditional sense (that
the quantity being objectively measured is independent of the observation).
It also establishes a causal loop between space and time. Intuitively this
seems too indeterminate to match our everyday experience of objects and
their stability (the Newtonian model). However, the effects of this
relative and mutual causation are not seen at everyday scales of space and
time. They show up at the extremes (cosmic and atomic scales). Very similar
phenomena also show up in psychology and the experience of consciousness. I
don't assume this similarity is an accident, because it clearly has
something to do with the fabric of reality.
But to make it all hang together with our previous notions
(Newtonian/Cartesian) we have to offer a convincing explanation for why
such a subjective arrangement between space and time can appear to be
solidly objective in middle dimensions. Why does space and time appear
independent and stable to us from a sensory mode of observation, when in
reality they are not? I think Rosen's modeling relation can explain this
when it is applied generally to all interactions (i.e., not just to
individual observers such as humans thinking about something).
-----------------------------------------------
John J. Kineman, Physical Scientist/Ecologist
National Geophysical Data Center
325 Broadway E/GC1 (3100 Marine St. Rm: A-152)
Boulder, Colorado 80303 USA
(303) 497-6900 (phone)
(303) 497-6513 (fax)
jjk@ngdc.noaa.gov (email)